The Supreme Court: New Limits for an Old Conflict

Casting a cool eye at three
convictions of one Louisiana civil rights worker, the Supreme Court
last week tossed out all three. In the process, it spelled out new
limits for both sides of an old conflictthe need for public law and
order v. the First Amendment's guarantee of the rights of free speech,
assembly and petition.

In Baton Rouge, in 1961, police arrested 23 students of Southern (Negro)
University for picketing segregated lunch counters. Next day, the Rev.
B. Elton Cox, a Congregationalist minister and CORE worker, led 2,000
more students to the courthouse for a peaceful demonstration against
the...